Fracture
by firefly
Summary: Hyuuga Neji is strange and wary in his kindness, but knows better than to let anyone, including Uchiha Itachi, exploit that. Slight ItachiNeji. Requested drabble.


Fracture

By: firefly

Note: Written for a drabble request where the pairing was Itachi/Neji and I had to include the word "smirks." Normally I don't do yaoi, but she asked so nicely and it's not that yaoi-ish anyway. XD She actually wanted FLUFF. With ITACHI/NEJI. I don't know about it totally being fluff, but it comes pretty damn close. XD Reviews would be lovely.

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**Fracture**

"This is a family reunion."

Neji glanced up at the indifferent voice, wary and cautious as his eyes checked the secure bonds. After three hours of tense silence, he'd been the first to break the silence, and the Hyuuga didn't quite know how to respond.

At last, he spoke.

"The Uchiha are nothing like the Hyuuga."

"Family honour?" the voice said, somewhat hoarsely from the corner. "Pride? What makes you say that?"

"Be silent."

"Silencing an elder..." the voice uttered softly, emotionlessly, and Neji grimaced. Getting up from where he sat, Neji slowly made his way over to the corner, watching the way the bowed head rose slightly at the sound of his footsteps.

Standing silently, he stared down at Uchiha Itachi, bound and docile in his dark corner of the room, a bloodied blindfold around his eyes.

"How is my little brother?" Itachi spoke without feeling, raising his head as if he could see the silent Hyuuga.

"In critical condition," Neji answered, equally emotionless. "You managed to rupture a lung with the kunai, but missed the heart."

A heavy, poisonous silence settled in the air between them.

Neji was glad the Uchiha couldn't see his look of disgust as the dried blood on Itachi's face slowly cracked to accommodate the smallest of smirks.

His words had the desired effect, making the hairs on the back of Neji's neck stand on end.

"I didn't miss."

Silence again. For a minute or so, Neji watched him without thought, waiting for the other ANBU to arrive and remove Itachi to the permanent holding facility. Even in his haggard state, he had been considered volatile and prompted guard duty from none other than Hyuuga Neji. The Hyuuga's assignment was simple; to watch Uchiha Itachi, monitor his vital signs, and incapacitate him permanently if need be.

There was a soft scrape of cloth on concrete, and Neji tensed, taking a step forward and narrowing his eyes.

"Considering escape?" he questioned, watching the Uchiha twitch his blood-caked fingers, yellowed from lack of circulation.

"To be caught again?" Itachi countered blankly, looking up at him through the blindfold.

Neji smirked, eyes cold.

"Sense leaves those in desperate situations. Or are you not human?"

Loose, clumped strands of black hair fell over his blindfold when he tilted his head slightly to the side.

"Hardly desperate," he answered softly, tonelessly. "You're giving me time to recuperate for killing twenty-three of your people."

"For interrogation," Neji said, eyes lowering to the tight bonds again. "It's the only reason you're alive."

"You believe you can kill me."

Against his will and protocol, Neji over-stepped his boundaries and stopped one pace from the Uchiha's motionless form, staring down at him.

"If I have to."

Itachi slowly lowered his head as Neji knelt, sinking to his knees and looking him directly in the face. Colourless irises gazed at the quiet figure before him, taking in his appearance and, despite himself, inwardly admiring his collectiveness.

His gaze moved over the blindfold, thick layers of gauze wrapped tightly and hastily over two wads of cotton. The lines beneath his eyes were a dark crimson, coagulated blood crusting on the skin as it continued to seep gently from beneath one of his eyes.

Dark hair hung around his face, clumped with the blood of ANBU members. Silently, Neji reached forward, brushing back the hair that hung over the bloodied gauze, eyes taking in the blood flow.

Itachi remained motionless, seemingly staring right at him in silence as Neji's fingers trailed down his jaw, descending against his throat and pressing firmly.

A throbbing, slow pulse pounded sluggishly against his fingertips, regular and steady.

Had it been anyone else, Neji would have shone a pocket flashlight into each pupil to further assess any potential brain damage.

But the eyes, in this case, were the most dangerous weapons, hidden now behind layers of blood and gauze.

Gazing intently at the hollows behind the gauze, Neji slowly formed the seals, whispering a silent "Byakugan."

He blinked, surprised and bitterly satisfied to see the enormous amount of Chakra hidden behind the layers of gauze, focused in piercing, sharp pinpoints behind each eye. A smirk slowly lifted the corner of his lips when the chakra grew brighter as he leaned forward.

Looking deeper, he noticed the Chakra point in the left eye was pulsing erratically, wavering and flickering like a sputtering candle. The tissues surrounding and constructing the eye were damaged, quelling chakra flow and rendering it useless.

He inwardly congratulated Sasuke for managing to critically injure the eye before he was stabbed.

"Your killer intent," Neji said smoothly, pressing a fingertip against an un-bloodied portion of the gauze. "I can see it."

Itachi said nothing.

"Though, it's useless." Neji removed his finger, tone wiped of emotion. "Your left eye is nearly destroyed. And this gauze is not coming off."

Lowering his eyes, Neji deactivated his Byakugan, taking in the way the Uchiha kept his jaw tightly clenched. His colour seemed to be paling further with each passing second, sweat beading on his temple.

The reason was obvious. Keeping his chakra focused so sharply and strongly in his damaged eye must have been causing him excruciating pain.

Again, against his will, Neji found himself admiring his collectiveness and resilience, unwavering and potent in a situation where an attempt at movement was futile.

It was unnecessary, sometimes even prohibited, for Neji to comment on matters that had nothing to do with his assignment. But having one of the most dangerous men in the Bingo Book tied and rendered powerless in front of him warranted some twisted form of ridicule and counsel.

"Spare yourself," Neji said, in a mixture of revulsion and deference. "You won't get the opportunity to attack."

Itachi merely stared at him through the gauze.

"I see there will be no kindness from you that I can exploit."

Neji blinked, somewhat subdued by the odd comment. It annoyed him greatly to see the Uchiha smirking slightly, fingers numb and twitching in his lap.

"The greatest thing I can exploit…is sheer stupidity on your part."

"There will be no stupidity on my part," Neji said, just as calmly, determined to not let a battered and half-conscious Uchiha outcast damage his pride.

Itachi moved, and Neji's fingers shot out to hover centimeters from his temple, chakra pulsing threateningly beneath the skin. But the Uchiha merely slouched back against the cold wall, head lowering slightly.

"Then there is no point."

Neji blinked and activated his Byakugan to see the angry, pulsing pricks of chakra depleting behind each of his eyes, fading and dispersing into the normal chakra pathways. The sudden release of tension prompted a vicious whiplash of pain, visible in the way the chakra wavered momentarily in its smooth flow around his eyes.

A soft grunt of pain was the only sound Itachi made, fingers trembling unconsciously in his lap.

Neji stared at him, thinking over every detail he'd ever read about the infamous Uchiha and not understanding him at all. A prodigy in his own right, Neji knew that Uchiha Itachi surpassed a title such as that, exceeding expectations and venturing into territory beyond the scopes of normal shinobi.

It is said that brilliance and insanity are separated by nothing but a fine line, and Neji could almost imagine Itachi stepping into that terrifying realm and beyond, where fear and pain meant nothing and the only thing that mattered was the feeling of raw, devastating power.

Something twisted in the pit of his stomach.

Itachi spoke to him of kindness, when the kindest thing the Uchiha had ever done was grant his parents quick deaths, before they could torture themselves with thoughts of where they had gone wrong.

Neji's brow furrowed as he spoke, unable to recognize whether he was feeling anger, awe, disgust, or sympathy.

"Perhaps, when you're removed from here, you'll be able to exploit the stupidity of others…" he leaned forward, watching Itachi raise his head slightly as his fingers pressed against his pulse again.

"But when you leave this place…" Neji reached up with his free hand, removing his hitai-ate and gently putting the cloth against the round, bloodied splotch in the gauze.

The fingers against that slow, throbbing pulse gradually descended, unclasping the torn Akatsuki cloak and slipping under the thin shirt beneath.

Itachi's lips parted slightly at the contact, giving no other reaction to the unwarranted and intimate touch.

"When you leave this place," Neji repeated, fingers pressing into the skin of Itachi's left pectoral. "There will be no kindness for you to exploit."

Itachi closed his eyes tighter behind the gauze, tense shoulders growing lax as Neji's parted lips pressed against the cloth over his damaged eye.

He hadn't known a silence so comfortable for years, the feeling of heated, moist breath against his eye invoking drowsiness and comfort, something he'd completely forgotten. Even as Neji breathed in and out against the cloth, slowly and meditatively, the idea of exploiting the act of kindness did not cross the Uchiha's mind.

The Chakra had dissipated into his legs, leaden and weak, senses doused with the scent of Konoha, fresh and young in this merciful Hyuuga.

The screaming pain in his left eye dulled gradually, growing tolerable beneath Neji's heated breath. Itachi remained motionless the entire time, not bothering to attack, not bothering to even contemplate attacking.

Pain dulled away into something faint and pulsing, heart rate slowing further as exhaustion ate away at his consciousness.

His lips slowly gave into a small smirk, which gradually grew into a weak, bitter smile as his vision behind the gauze grew clouded.

No, he wouldn't, and couldn't exploit this act of kindness; not when distant family breathed him comfort, not when he was so drained of chakra…

The smile grew slightly.

And not when Hyuuga Neji's fingers were pressing against his chest, pulsing readily with a lethal dose of chakra above his heart.

Nothing, there was nothing Itachi could do but succumb to unconsciousness, his smile bitter and cold as Neji's warm lips and warm fingers gently withdrew, leaving the skin above his heart lightly bruised and burning.

_Kind as he is_, Itachi thought, slumping into unconsciousness.

_Hyuuga Neji is not stupid._


End file.
